Music Review: One for the Team hits an indie pop home run

If you listen to “I’ve Been Here So Long” just once, I guarantee you will tap your foot, bob your head and then press repeat.

One For The Team is a relatively new indie rock/pop band started in 2006, but is already promoting its junior full-length album, “Ghosts,” which offers a sound suitable for the 80s junkie and the underground rock enthusiast.

As a mix of both types, I immediately fell in love the intertwined male/female vocals of Ian Anderson and Grace Fiddler, along with the ever-present synthesizer.

Back to my favorite song on the album, “I’ve been here so long” is the opener and is amazing from the first second.

It starts off with a kind of “The Cure” beginning, simple and sweet electric strings before the rest of the band joins in full-force 15 seconds later, a heroic tradition indeed.

The drums add a fuzzy, yet pulse-pounding rift of suspense, captivating listeners and inclining them to create their own music video in their head.

By the way, check out One For The Team’s YouTube channel if you want to see their unique, simplistic taste in cinematography.

My second favorite songs, yes songs, are “I got Tamed,” and “Garden.”

“I got Tamed,” is not heavy in lyrics but the line “I didn’t grow old, I got tamed,” implies to me that it is about coming of age.

It is one of the slower songs from the album, but a real good relaxer. It would suit the school bus ride home after Grad Nite.

“Garden” is less-heavy in lyrics with the line “If I give you a yard, will you build a garden?”

It is a song for many occasions, but as the concluding track in the album, it serves as an ambiguous message for the listener to go out and make something of their lives, which is a happy ending for a happy album.

Although, after watching the music video on YouTube, I got a better sense of how carefree the band is. The video is composed of the band members smiling and/or staring at the camera with shots of Paris, France behind them. That’s all.

The quality is very subpar, as I could have shot it with my new iPod Nano, but I think that is the quality they were going for.

What makes this band and their album extra awesome is the fact that Ghosts was recorded all on tape in a world where digital is the norm.

Recently Anderson explained in a an interview how important the recording process comparing digital recoding and tape recording is to the band.

One For The Team has the spirit of the Cranberries with the style of Pinback and whether or not you understand what that means, it is a band to look into.